Photo Credit: Chris Ingram Rally Chris Ingram says his opening round win in the 2017 FIA European Rally Championship was "a big confidence boost" ahead of the rest of the season, with this result marking the first time the 22 year old driver has started his season off with a win.
The Manchester man is competing for Opel Motorsport in an Opel ADAM R2 for a second season in 2017, having signed for the German marque to compete in the ERC last year. 2016 saw Ingram claim the FIA ERC 3 title with five consecutive podium finishes but mechanical failure on the final round meant he missed out on the Junior title to his then team mate Marius Griebel. With a shake-up in the ERC's format for this season, Ingram is now competing in what's called the ERC Junior U27 Championship, for drivers under the age of 27 years old in R2 specification cars. The Opel Motorsport pilot won in Portugal to lead the championship at this early stage, but he was pushed hard by his new team mate and ADAC Opel Rallye Cup graduate Jari Huttunen. "It's massively important to start the season with a win," Chris explains, "especially on a tough rally like the Azores where it's usually an achievement to just get to the finish. It's the first time I've actually started with a win as well so that's a big confidence boost ahead of next four tarmac rounds. "We were pushed hard by our team mate [Jari Huttunen] and it was interesting to have to keep up the pace but still take no risks as what I've learnt from the Azores is it's simply not a place to take risks. We were driving quite comfortably but in the back of my mind I knew I simply couldn't make any small mistakes and throw away tenths of seconds. "Although we hadn't realised we'd won after a few small issues at the end of the rally, when we heard and it sunk in there is just no better feeling [than winning]! Especially when you've had to work so hard for it with months of preparation, sacrifices and actual risks you've had to take in the car." Ingram's eventual winning margin of over 14 minutes belies the true story of the rally, which saw the Brit and his Finnish team mate covered by mere seconds throughout the event. Chris is sure it's going to be close between the two Opel drivers this season. "I think it will be a great battle all year, Jari is a very talented driver and one of Finland's 'chosen ones', backed by Marcus Gronholm which just goes to show his talent." It was most definitely a tough start to the year, with the Azores being one of the most challenging rallies in Europe. Chris spoke of the challenges of the event: "The Azores is regarded as one of the most challenging events on the ERC calendar and is famous for the volcano stage Sete Cidades. I've competed on the event four times before finishing second, first, second then first after taking a cautious approach because if you go flat-out you usually run out of luck and can easily tap a bank which will either knock the tracking out, bend the steering a knock a tyre off its rim. This has happened to me three times before but we managed to minimise the time loss. You have to know when to push and when to drive within yourself but when you get it right it's the most rewarding feeling!" This year is Ingram's fourth in the FIA European Rally Championship, formerly the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, having previously driven a private Renault Twingo R2 before signing for Peugeot UK to drive a Peugeot 208 R2, collecting two Colin McRae ERC Flat Out Trophies over the years. There was a new face in the co-drivers' seat when Ingram headed to Opel in 2016 as previous co-driver Gabin Moreau signed with Citroen Racing to compete with rising star Stephane Lefebvre in the World Rally Championship. Elliot Edmondson, also 22, has joined Ingram on his ERC journey and it's a partnership Chris wished had begun sooner. "The decision to get Elliot in the car was one I wish I'd taken sooner as the road here would have been a lot easier! He is doing a fantastic job, fully committed and passionate but also relaxed and organised, and he gets on well with everyone. He's always spot on with calling the pace notes and it gives me lots of confidence which has ultimately helped give us two wins from the last two ERC rounds we have finished." The FIA ERC Junior U27 season consists of six rallies, two on gravel and four on tarmac. Up next for the youngsters is Rallye Islas Canarias, before trips to Poland for Rallye Rzsezow in May, the Czech Republic for Barum Czech Rally Zlin in August, Italy for Rally di Roma Capitale in September before book-ending the season on the loose on Rally Liepaja in Latvia in early October. The 2012 MSA Young Driver of the Year is trying not to think about the championship, and instead is approaching each event on a rally-by-rally basis. "Although we have started with maximum points I am taking a rally by rally approach, so the goal will be to win at every round. It will be hard graft and as Sebastien Loeb once said 'winning is never easy', but I am more focused than ever and feel I have the right balance of experience and pace. Bring on round two, Rallye Islas Canarias in May!"
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Photo Credit: Hyundai Motorsport Last month I wrote a piece discussing whether the FIA European Rally Championship was dying, listing a number of reasons as to why I felt it isn't what it used to be, especially not when you look at how strong the Intercontinental Rally Challenge was for a few years.
What do you do on a Tuesday night? Well if your name is Luke Barry, which mine is, and you aren't working, which tonight I'm not, then you'll end up lying on your bed, looking through social media on your phone and then your mind will start to wander. That is the exact situation I am in right now as I type away, and what I have thought of is by no means a solution to the ERC's problems because it's highly unlikely to happen, but my idea is to me the perfect solution to extracting the true potential the R5 formula holds. Because I don't think it's just the FIA ERC that is struggling, WRC2 isn't too great either. Don't get me wrong, the entry list for Monte-Carlo last weekend was particularly impressive with Andreas Mikkelsen, Jan Kopecky, Pontus Tidemand, Eric Camilli, Bryan Bouffier and Kevin Abbring (pictured above) all taking the start. And the talent it has helped to promote with the likes of Craig Breen, Elfyn Evans and Esapekka Lappi all coming through the ranks with Teemu Suninen seemingly following suit too, it is impressive. But the entertainment value isn't there. More often than not, because drivers have nominated points scoring rounds, you fail to see a close battle for a rally win. The main issue WRC2 faces is it is kind of resigned to its fate. As the main feeder series to the World Rally Championship it is always going to bring aspiring drivers into the big league, but because of this it is never going to draw media attention, provide the spectacle, or truly flourish to its maximum potential because if it did it may draw level with the World Rally Championship and the FIA wouldn't be having that. That is what basically renders my plan as non-negotiable, but my proposal would be for one supreme FIA R5 Championship, effectively combining the European Rally Championship and WRC2 together. The FIA wouldn't 100% have to be involved but it would give the championship that bit more credibility and help it pull in the best possible events. Again because this isn't entirely realistic allow me to dream. Below is a drafted calendar for the season, which combines the best events from the European Rally Championship with European events from the WRC. This way the drivers could still learn certain WRC events in preparation for potential promotion. 1. Rallye Monte-Carlo 2. Rally Sweden 3. Rallye Azores 4. Tour de Corse 5. Acropolis Rally 6. Ypres Rally 7. Rally Finland 8. Rallye Deutschland 9. Rallye Sanremo 10. Wales Rally GB I appreciate Rallye Sanremo isn't on the European or World Championship calendar and that some would argue the balance of gravel to tarmac is a little out with some preferring less gravel events, but that to me is a pretty solid calendar including 6 WRC events. If the Circuit of Ireland was still running I would add it in in place of Sanremo, but at this point in time the rally is fighting for funding. But a crucial ingredient this championship would have is full manufacturer supported teams. If you've read any of my previous posts you will know how much I like manufacturer support. It was one of the main things that made the iRC so great and definitely improved the epic Formula 2 era in the British Rally Championship. Privateer entries would obviously still be included but 2 car manufacturer teams from M-Sport, Skoda, Hyundai, Peugeot, Citroen and VW when they launch the Polo R5 in 2018 would be absolutely fabulous. Eric Camilli and Teemu Suninen at M-Sport and Jan Kopecky and Pontus Tidemand at Skoda is totally feasible given these drivers already drive for these teams, and I'm fairly sure Hyundai could find a partner for Kevin Abbring. This proposed championship I believe would fully utilise the R5 formula, because with the vast array of cars available the competition would be fantastic and with the number of competitors and championships current using the cars the reach would be huge. The Belgian Rally Championship, Prestone MSA British Rally Championship and the Irish Tarmac Championship all proved in 2016 that the R5 formula produces epic contests, and epic contests are what have been missing from both the European Rally Championship and the WRC2 of late. And from these local, national championships drivers could progress into the Super R5 Championship and ply their trade. So come on FIA if you're reading, make it happen! A boy can dream...
Photo Credit: FIA ERC
This particular page on my blog makes me sad. I really like the header photo but I never know what to write about the European Rally Championship. For something that was formerly so great, particularly in the iRC days, I now barely find myself following the rallies anymore.
Why is that? Honestly I'm not 100% sure, but the success of our national championship, the MSA British Rally Championship, amongst other things could be doing the damage. Here are four reasons I think the FIA European Rally Championship is on the decline. British involvement & intervention
You can try and deny it to yourself if you like, I have, but the simple matter of the fact is when a Brit is involved in something you are far more interested. Whether it be Nigel Farage meeting Donald Trump in America, a British citizen involved in a particular tragedy or in this instance Craig Breen in the European Rally Championship, interest levels dip when somebody close to home is not involved.
It's the perfect move for Breen to enter the WRC, as he has worked hard to get there, but since leaving the ERC at the end of 2015 I have become less interested, and I doubt that's a coincidence. In all fairness, Breen also provided Kajetan Kajetanowicz with a serious title rival as his current nearest opposition, Alexey Lukyanuk, is still a little inconsistent, but not having somebody to back in the fully fledged championship does make a difference, not in the ERC's favour. And it couldn't really have come at a worse time, as British rally fans have been treated to the rejuvinated MSA British Rally Championship, which ran R5 category cars as well as the ERC. Naturally, the BRC has taken priority for viewing in this country, and to be honest I think it is a far more interesting and promising series than the ERC. And it would appear Alain Penasse and everybody else running the Ypres Rally in Belgium agree with me, as the Belgian classic is now a contributing round of the British Rally Championship despite being abroad, and no longer the European Rally Championship. This is a major blow for the ERC having already lost the Circuit of Ireland through its cancellation, it really couldn't afford to lose more key rallies. In all honesty, the calendar they have got is pretty healthy with Rally Zlin, the Azores and old WRC events in Cyprus and the Acropolis, but a few interesting rallies aren't going to be enough to captivate the die hard supporter yet alone casual rally fan. Lack of manufacturer presence
Another key part to any motor racing championship is manufacturer involvement. I personally love to see a whole range of makes battle for supremacy against the clock, and even more so when proper teams come and join the fray.
And unfortunately that is something that is beginning to happen less and less in the FIA's second-tier rally championship. In 2016, we did see the full monte of R5 cars from Ford, Skoda and Peugeot and Citroen throughout the year, but no manufacturer representatives with the exception of Jan Kopecky in the Czech Republic, and realistically it was only Fiestas and Fabias we saw. Wind back 5 years or so, to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, and we saw S2000s from Skoda, Peugoet, Ford, Proton and on occasion Fiat, with works supported challenges from Skoda, Peugeot and Proton. I loved the 2011 iRC as the feature below this one on this page will tell you, and it demonstrates how far the bar has fallen that I couldn't tell you more than two drivers from the 2016 ERC.*
Photo Credit: FIA ERC
ERC Junior
This may seem a bit strange to ridicule arguably the strongest part of the European Rally Championship, but hear me out.
ERC Junior has been a massive success since being introduced a few years back, helping the careers of most notably Stephane Lefebvre who now has himself a contract to drive a Citroen C3 WRC in the World Rally Championship next year. Another main stay and likely beneficiary from the category has been Manchester driver Chris Ingram, who was incredibly unlucky to lose the title to team mate Marius Griebel with mechanical failure this year. But nevertheless his performances and experience working with Opel Motorsport will undoubtedly stand him in good stead in the future, and the ERC Junior has made a strong case for being the best junior formulae ahead of the Junior WRC. I would certainly struggle to say the WRC's version is the superior, put it that way. The ERC Junior has been further bolstered too with new prizes on offer, with two separate championships having been created. The snappily named ERC Junior Under 27 is for drivers, erm, under 27, and will be contested over six rounds in R2 speicifaction vehicles, with the drivers' best four results counting towards their championship. The winner will receive 100,000 euros to fund a campaign in ERC Junior Under 28 the following year, which incidentally is for drivers under the age of 28. Again contested across six rounds with four rallies contributing to the final championship tally, ERC-J U28 (sounds like the name of a printer let's not lie) allows drivers to compete in the increasingly popular R5 class. And the prize of a funded drive on a European round of the World Rally Championship in a 2016-spec WRC car is certainly not to be sniffed at. All in all, it is probably the place to be if you're a young hopeful gunning for the World Championship, but back to my point, if you take a moment and examine how much I've written in this sub-section compared to the two prior to this, you can see I have written a lot more and not even got to my point. But ironically, that is my point. Sense my excitement, enthusiasm, interest and appreciation for ERC Junior, which far exceeds my sentiment towards the main ERC series. And that can't be a strong reflection on the ERC. I'm not going to sit here, especially after singing the praises of ERC Junior, and tell you that having a strong and fruitful junior series is not important because it most definitely is, but the whole point of a junior series is to showcase and develop the sport's young and rising stars, not effectively have them steal the limelight from the main event. And for me, there is large potential for ERC Junior to do that next year. If it were up to me, I may actually be attempted to abolish the ERC and just run the junior championship. Then I would consider dumping the one make Junior WRC which is not at the level it used to be, and run a giant and gruelling series for up and coming youngsters. Imagine the entertainment value and interest levels there, and the eventual champion will have seriously proved his or her's mettle. Poor title fights
WRC-2 has the same problem here to be fair, and I think the issue mainly stems from only allocating a certain number of points scoring rounds, but the ERC since it took over from the iRC as the promoted Eurosport series, has yet to witness a proper championship fight.
In 2013, Jan Kopecky creamed his opposition and took what was a long overdue championship title, in 2014 despite promises of a challenge from Peugeot drivers Craig Breen and Kevin Abbring the title was Esapekka Lappi's in the older S2000 Fabia, with Pole Kajetan Kajetanowicz wrapping up two titles on the bounce in 2015 and 16 without too much challenge in his Ford Fiesta R5. The main issue really is, and to be fair it's hard to blame the ERC for this, that unlike the WRC there are no works teams, professional contracts and proper commitments meaning instead of seeing somebody for the full season, a driver may only do half the rounds, three quarters of them or maybe just one if it happens to be their local. This doesn't really create the season long tension that you strive for in a classic championship battle, because even if the points do come close, and this happened in WRC-2, the drama just isn't the same because quite often the championship protagonists aren't actually competing against each other. You may argue that it is unfair for me to comapre it to the WRC and that the championship hasn't actually been exciting in the WRC since 2011, and you may partially have a point, but in the WRC the full time commitment from drivers means you can monitor their progress, and follow the championship picture with more ease than you can with sporadic drives. And I did say that it's hard to blame the ERC for its round allocation system, but here I go again, back to those words "iRC 2011", but that was simply a supreme championship conclusion where there were no dropped events. And with that we saw committed campaigns from those in the title race. The ERC has just gone downhill, to the point where I don't pay attention anymore.
Photo Credit: FIA ERC
Do you agree?
I ran a poll on my Twitter account to see if fellow rally fans agreed with me, and as you can see people are very much divided on the issue, and provided some interesting comments about what they feel the state of the championship is. However, it looks as if the majority is with me.
Out of 30 votes, 15 believed the championship is dying, and a few gave their reasoning. Teemu / Rallirinki (@HartusvuoriWRC) said: "2017 calendar isn't doing @FIAERC any favours. Starts late with two island events, stays away from Central Europe until August." Nick Altersyke (@Rallyboy2009) replied: "True. Difficult to get rally fever from European fans when first events are so remotely based." And also said: "Original IRC had better events, more top end drivers. Maybe they should use ex-WRC cars now as top class to get interest back. More variety of events rather including Monte. Just lost it's publicity really since being ERC. Just realised .... losing Ypres in 2017 too!! Shocking decision for European championship." Are we right? Comment below and have your say, but even if still think the FIA ERC is of good standard, it's hard to argue that it hasn't gone downhill since the iRC days.
*2011 iRC drivers from memory: Andreas Mikkelsen, Jan Kopecky, Juho Hanninen, Freddy Loix, Bryan Bouffier, Thierry Neuville, Guy Wilks, Giandomenico Basso, Craig Breen, Patrik Sandell...
There have been many great seasons of rallying in many different championships over the years. Whether it be for titanic championship battles, the quality of the field, the type of cars competing or the memories people have of them, the matter will always be purely subjective although most rally fans will have common ground in what they regard as some of the best rally seasons ever. For me, seasons that stand out among others are WRC 2001 for the epic title showdown and the "Battle of Britain", WRC 2003 for the battle between the establishment (Gronholm, Sainz, Burns, Makinen, McRae) and the young guns (Solberg, Loeb, Martin), and British Rally Championship 2000 for the memories of watching it on VHS and the awesome, howling Formula 2 kit cars that squared off against each other. However, in a similar fashion to the 2003 WRC season, one of my very favourite rally seasons ever was the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge, or iRC. The drivers, the cars, the rallies and the championship battle were all exceptional, and I have great memories from it as it got me more interested in the European rallying scene. The cars in the iRC were S2000 machines, the same equivalent to the R5 machines that are currently being used in the FIA European Rally Championship, which the iRC became. The S2000 machines have almost disappeared from top line rallying now, but they were fantastic as there were many different manufacturers who made them, cheifly Skoda, Peugeot and Ford, whilst also sounding fantastic with high-revving, non turbo charged engines.
As for the rallies, iRC 2011 boasted a quality mix of established European events and worldwide classics, with 8 tarmac and 3 gravel events. These included European events such as Rally Islas Canarias, Rallye Azores, Rally Zlin, Ypres, Mecsek Rallye, Prime Yalta Rally and the Rally of Scotland as well as infamous rallies like Rallye Monte-Carlo, Corsica, Sanremo and the mixed surface event Cyprus. The drivers were a terrific mix of young WRC hopefuls and former WRC contenders, with several wildcard entrants competing on selected events. Experienced competitors such as Jan Kopecky, Freddy Loix, Toni Gardemeister and Guy Wilks took on young hot shots in Juho Hanninen, Bryan Bouffier, Andreas Mikkelsen and Thierry Neuville, with all four of those men receiving chances in the WRC after iRC 2011, with the latter two now being WRC winners. What I loved about iRC 2011 the most was how some driver's autumn and others' spring stages of their careers met for one titanic battle over 11 rallies. In the end, it was the rising stars that got the upper hand with Norwegians Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Floene defeating Jan Kopecky to the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge season by just 1.5 points. Skoda took a 1-2-3-4 in the championship with Juho Hanninen and Freddy Loix coming in 3rd and 4th, with Peugeot's Thierry Neuville, Bryan Bouffier and Guy Wilks came home 5th, 6th and 7th. So iRC 2011 is one of my favourite rally seasons ever, what's yours? Let me know! If you want to see more of my writing, please like my Facebook page and follow me on Twitter. Photo Credit: FIA ERC Last weekend, four time Polish Rally Champion Kajetan Kajetanowicz claimed the 2015 European Rally Championship title on the shortened Acropolis Rally of Greece with one round to spare. Kajeto defeated main rivals Craig Breen and Alexey Lukyanuk to the title at the wheel of his Ford Fiesta R5. From the off, the main championship battle looked set to be between Kajetanowicz and Peugeot Sport's Craig Breen, and so it played out. Ireland's Breen held the early season advantage, winning three consecutive rallies, but a mid season blip left him trailing Poland's Kajetanowicz until Kajetan's victory on the Acropolis (which finished early due to bad weather) mathematically ruled Breen and all the others out of contention. This will come as a major blow to Breen, who has been on the brink of the WRC for a number of years. Photo Credit: FIA ERC After an impressive season in the 2010 British Rally Championship behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta S2000, Breen switched to the WRC Academy (now Junior WRC) for 2011 driving a less powerful Fiesta R2. A sensational championship battle ensued between Breen and Estonian youngster Egon Kaur. Breen and Kaur eventually tied on championship points, but Breen took the championship due to a greater number of stage wins. A year later and he was back in a Fiesta S2000 in the SWRC (now WRC2) where he wrapped up that championship as well. It was an emotional year for Craig however, who was doing some rallies in the iRC (now ERC) alongside his SWRC campaign. On the famous Targa Florio rally, tragically his long standing co-driver Gareth Roberts lost his life in an accident. So to even keep going was an achievement for Breen. The logical step perhaps from the SWRC title would be promotion to the WRC (a career path Elfyn Evans took) but instead Breen's career went somewhat horizontal. He contested the 2013 ERC, now with Peugeot in a 207 S2000 in a season dominated by Jan Kopecky and Skoda. For 2014, he got a new car, the 205 T16 R5 and subsequently took his first international rally win on the Acropolis Rally. However once again he was beaten to the title by Skoda and Esapekka Lappi. 2015 looked set to be Craig Breen's year, as his nearest title challenger on paper was Kajetanowicz who had less ERC experience than Breen. And despite an opening round victory for Kajeto, things were looking very promising for Peugeot's Breen as he won the next three rallies in a row, including an emotional victory on his home rally, the Circuit of Ireland. Photo Credit: FIA ERC However, Breen did not feature on the podium for any of the next four rallies, with driver error and plain bad luck blighting his charge. Meanwhile, Kajetanowicz was collecting the podiums and scored a further victory in Cyprus. He won the Acropolis with Breen in second, and the title was his.
Craig Breen will be ruing an opportunity missed, as the European title would speak wonders on his CV. He is among a bunch of drivers on the cusp of WRC promotion, including Esapekka Lappi who has an ERC title, and needs something that will make WRC teams take notice of him. His Peugeot team mate from 2014 Kevin Abbring (who didn't finish as high in the championship) is now on the brink of a Hyundai drive, which may add to the hurt Breen is feeling. The bottom line is Breen is a top class driver, but if he wants to be among the world's elite, he really needed to win the 2015 ERC title as it would have been the boost required. Now if he wants to win the ERC he has to do it all over again, which is effectively wasting another year of progress. I feel like his chance is almost gone. The lacklustre 2013 ERC season may be the culprit, as after brilliant successive championship successes, his career began to stall. But of course hindsight is a funny thing. And after all, Toyota are joining the WRC in 2017, so 2016 will be more important than ever. 2016 European Rally Championship title must be the goal. Round 3 of the ERC was all about the Irishmen, on their home rally the Circuit of Ireland. Much like the issue of Irish Home Rule at the start of the 20th century, there were Conservatives and Liberals although both Craig Breen (who you would consider conservative given he has a championship to push for) and Robert Barrable (pictured above) were driving as if they were Liberals - free! The battle between the Peugeot and Ford pilots raged on throughout the event, with the 208 man lying 1.1 seconds ahead overnight from the impressive Barrable. The fight continued into Saturday where Barrable was edging Breen by equally small margins like on the previous day, until it all went wrong on the third last stage for Robert, as he fell off the road. Breen should have been home and dry but a spin which damaged the front of his car on the penultimate stage left Kajetan Kajetanowicz just 5 seconds behind. However, Craig held on to take his 3rd career ERC victory and 2nd of the season which elevates him to the top of the championship. It was an emotional victory for Breen, who had dreamed about winning The Circuit as a child. It was an important win as he has won events in the series now on gravel, ice and snow and tarmac.
Kajetanowicz spoiled the Irish party as the two Moffett brothers Josh and Sam finished 3rd and 4th respectively in their Fiesta RRCs. Breen's team mate Charles Martin claimed 5th. Robert Consani was running as high as 3rd in his DS3 R5 until he hit gearbox trouble, and Scot Euan Thorburn put in a decent performance in his Fiesta S2000 on his ERC debut. He sadly had to retire on the final day. The ERC next heads to the Azores in June. The battle between Breen and Kajetanowicz is set to rage on, but right now Craig has the upper hand. For now he will just enjoy his special moment though. 25 year old Irishman Craig Breen today won the Rally Liepaja in Latvia, round 2 of the European Rally Championship at the wheel of his Peugeot 208 T16 R5. It was a comfortable victory in the end as rivals Alexey Lukyanuk and Kajetan Kejatanowicz both crashed out in their Fiesta R5 machines. That means Breen lies 2nd in the championship, 5 pts behind the ERC Ice Master Kajetanowicz. Next up in the series is the Circuit of Ireland in 2 months time, and Breen will be desperate to win his 3rd ERC event on his home event. Craig Breen is one of the top young drivers in international rallying, but his big break is yet to come. This has been highlighted by his team mate from last year Kevin Abbring being given his WRC debut for Hyundai on Rally Sweden. Breen first made his name in international rallying in 2011, when he contested the WRC Academy series. He had a close season fight with Estonian Egon Kaur, eventually winning courtesy to his greater number of stage wins only! This gifted him an SWRC campaign in a Fiesta S2000 for 2012. Despite a heavy crash in Finland, Breen swept up his second FIA title in as many seasons. 2012 though was a tragic year for Craig, as his co-driver and friend Gareth Roberts was killed whilst competing with Breen on the Targa Florio Rally in Italy. It was mightily impressive of Breen to even resume competing, but he wants to achieve his and Jaffa's dream.
However, that has been hard to come by. Despite having 2 feeder series titles to his name, Breen has never been given his chance in the WRC although has entered a few events in a privately entered car. He has competed in the ERC in 2013 and 14, netting his first victory at the Acropolis in 2014 in the 208 T16. 2015 is vitally important for Breen, as to really put himself on the map (especially with the arrival of Toyota in 2017 bringing more seats) he has to win the European Championship title. He has experience of all events and the car has done more or less a full season now so now really is his chance. If Breen can win the series, teams will take note and seriously consider him a worthy addition to their WRC team. It's a question I often ask myself; if I was bidding to break into the WRC would I be better off competing in the WRC2 category on WRC events or competing in the European Rally Championship?
Both series are for R5/S2000/RRC specification vehicles, the second highest rung of the rallying ladder if you like. They are both great championships to help promote promising drivers into the big time. If we look at the current WRC drivers, many of them have progressed from S2000 machinery into full spec WR cars. And there have been some differing career paths. Looking at M-Sport, two of their trio of drivers have driven in the second tier of rallying and been promoted into the big time. Elfyn Evans did so in the WRC2 category, as did ex-Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica last year. Kubica won the championship driving for Citroen and has since been snapped up by M-Sport. Evans was lucky in that he was backed by M-Sport last season, and did enough to show he had what it takes. World Champion Sebastien Ogier, his team mate Jari-Matti Latvala and Hyundai's Dani Sordo have all progressed through the WRC feeder series, as did the all conquering Sebastien Loeb. However, a lot of the young, fresh talents have made their way through the ERC or the iRC as it used to be known. Citroen's Kris Meeke, Hyundai's Juho Hanninen and Volkswagen's Andreas Mikkelsen are all former champions of the iRC and have since progressed to join the WRC. It took Kris and Juho a few years to get a seat, but the Norwegian jumped straight behind the wheel of the Polo R immediately after 2 championship wins in a Fabia S2000. WRC event winner Thierry Neuville also emerged through the iRC, having previously competing in the JWRC. The Belgian enjoyed good success driving a Peugeot in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The only driver who hasn't really profited as yet from the feeder series is Ireland's Craig Breen. Breen is a proven winner in the ERC, and won the SWRC title in 2012, but hasn't yet managed to break into the WRC although has had a couple of guest appearances. There are many career paths you can take to reach the WRC, and ultimately it really comes down to your talent rather than where you compete, but there are advantages to the 2 championships. Competing in WRC2 is likely to set you up well for your WRC future, since you compete on actual World Championship events. For this same reason it is easy to be noticed as all the WRC teams are in the same service park as you so they can easily see how well you are progressing. Alternatively, competing in the ERC allows you to get good experience competing with works teams such as Skoda and Peugeot. Also, as you are running as the top seeds you are in with a chance of becoming an international rally winner, which is a rather special feeling, particularly special on a famous event such as Corsica. If I was a privateer in a competitive R5 car, I'd perhaps do a season alternating between both championships if my budget allowed it. But if I had to choose, I think the lure of becoming an international rally winner and maybe champion would be too hard to resist. |
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April 2017
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